What Rock God Robert Plant Can Teach CEOs And Celebrities

Rob Asghar
, ContributorI'm sussing out the true laws of physics of leadership.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

One of the most important traits of a good leader is to know when to let go and when to let others take a turn at the top. But top leaders rarely have a healthy enough ego to be able to leave at the right time for themselves and for their organization, cause or movement.

Leaders and managers can learn a great deal from rock legend and former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant, now 64, who embodies the right way to do it. His musical contemporaries, the Rolling Stones, continue to embody the wrong way to do it.

Plant is touring, quietly and with little fanfare, at the same time that the Stones continue to plunder consumers by attempting to charge over $600 for a premium ticket. It might seem insulting enough that the Stones come by for one last mugging of their fans; but even as septuagenarians, their anniversary tour theme, “50 and Counting” implies that they’re not done taking your loot yet, and will be back in a wheelchair next time if need be.

Uniquely, former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant has resisted the siren call of glory in order to seek authenticity in his life. Leaders can learn from this. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Plant, by contrast, chooses to do his thing rather than cashing in on nostalgia or basking in the sort of mega-spotlight that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards demand lest they wither away.

Come to think of it, all three of them are withering away anyway. That’s the aging process for you. But the once-proudly-strutting Plant conducts himself now with a dignity, a self-effacing sense of humor, and a humility that is instructive, even enlightening, in our narcissistic, celebrity-driven, winner-takes-all culture.

My colleague, Varun Soni, is the dean of religious life at the University of Southern California and a lifelong Led Zeppelin fan. An ardent student of Buddhism, Hinduism and comparative religion, he sees Plant as an exemplar of sannyasa, an ancient Indian principle that could benefit leaders in every realm.

Ain't too proud to beg for your money and attention, even when we're in such bad shape: Keith Richards (L) and Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones perform during 'The Stones-50 and Counting' tour December 8, 2012. (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)

Sannyasa traditionally has involved a person renouncing his privilege and power (often toward the end of one’s life), in order to ready oneself properly for the next life. But as Soni explains it, “Sannyasa isn't just the renunciation of material goods and accomplishments, but also the relinquishing of ego and attachment. Among rock and roll icons, Robert Plant best represents this philosophy.”

What makes Plant so rare? As Soni notes, “He's passed up several Led Zeppelin reunion tours over the years—and the latest one could be the first billion-dollar tour ever. But he's walked away from his share of that and from legions of adoring fans, because he wants to do something that's more authentic to the person he is today. So instead of playing 100,000-seat arenas, he now tours 5,000-seat venues. He's taking the moment and the music over the promise of more fame and fortune."

“Do your job, then stop,” the Taoist sage Lao Tzu said. “It is the only path to serenity.” Yet this crucial leadership wisdom requires a very healthy ego, and there are few such exemplars of a healthy ego today or in any day.

The Roman general Cincinnatus and George Washington embodied it in a political realm. Former UCLA coach John Wooden embodied it in a sports realm. And within the spiritual realm, Jesus of Nazareth, the Buddha and a handful of others embodied the renunciation of royal or divine glory for higher purposes.

But more often, we see cases like Julius Caesar or Joe Paterno, clinging to glory till they lose their ability to fight off disaster. We see the sad mutual addiction of the Stones and their fans. We see Charlie Watts effectively retire from drumming forty years ago but maintaining his role as a Stone anyway.

Plant, meanwhile, experiments relentlessly with new genres and styles, accountable only to his own passions. He passed up a massive Zeppelin reunion in 2008 to tour with bluegrass singer Alison Kraus. Today he will play a few Zeppelin standards in concert, but again only after radically reinventing them, with the help of eclectic musicians spanning four continents. And even when he reunited with Zeppelin founder Jimmy Page for a few years in the 1990s, he insisted on doing so without the monumental weight of the Zeppelin brand and with a commitment to reinterpreting their oeuvre.

Plant’s major goal now isn’t to bask in the largest available spotlight. His goal now is to indulge his curiosity and his passion while helping put a spotlight on a whole new generation of talented peers.

In that way, he is a meaningful model for leaders and public figures everywhere.

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